[Killietalk] RE: Hatching brine shrimp

["Brian R. Watters" <bwatters at sasktel_net>]

Dave Koran wrote:

>
> As for the need for light, that is grossly overrated.  You only
> need enough light to be able to find your jars to work up.....
>

I agree that the need for light in hatching brine shrimp is grossly
overrated. My hatching setup consists of one-liter round-bottom boiling
flasks contained in a special box (that is light-proof). The temperature
inside the box is maintained by thermostatically controlled, low wattage
light bulbs. So, yes, there is some light in the setup but because my
fish-room is heated, and the box is insulated, the light bulbs come on for
relatively very short periods of time only. I use (and re-use many times, as
long as 3-4 weeks) a saline solution made with marine salt and have very
strong aeration bubbling through each of four flasks in series. The first
flask in line contains only RO water and serves simply to humidify the air
going to the hatching flasks. If I don't do that then I get salt
crystallizing at the ends of the air tubes in the hatching flasks, that
eventually blocks off the air flow (our air here is very dry, especially in
the winter). I harvest the shrimp completely from each flask on a 36 hour
cycle and get outstanding hatches. By allowing the flask to stand without
aeration for a few minutes I get a very effective separation of the cyst
shells and can siphon off the solution and shrimp into a brine shrimp net.
The solution is then used repeatedly until it becomes really soupy.
___________________________________________
Brian R. Watters
University of Regina
Regina, Sask. S4S 0A2, Canada
Ph: (306) 584-9161 (home); (306) 585-4663 (work)
Fax: (306) 585-5433
E-mail: bwatters at sasktel_net


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